Yes, I'm hearing you guys - time to tone down a bit on the patent news. Hence, a summary here of recent developments concerning the various legal cases between Samsung and Apple. Today in The Netherlands, the judge ruled [Dutch] that Samsung will not be able to block the iPhone/iPad from the Dutch market. In the meantime, the Australian courts upheld the preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1, while the American courts ruled that while the Tab indeed infringes upon Apple's design patents, Apple has not yet convinced the judge that that actually matters. Tying this all together with earlier rulings we already covered - it seems like judges across the world are really, really willy-nilly. Update: DailyTech has some detailed visual comparisons between Samsung's and Apple's devices, as well with the various design patents. Huh. You don't say.

I get what you're getting at, Thom, with the Samsung/Apple battle bringing to light issues that had been festering in darkness (and still are, to quite a degree), but at the end of the day what we're ultimately seeing is the opportunity for consumers to purchase the product of their desire - be it Apple or Samsung - taken away by idiotic lawyers and judges. Those two companies aren't the victims; we are. Rather than cheer for one side or the other, as many seem prone to do, we should be sending a strong message that they need to stop acting like whiny children and get back to doing something productive.

Rather than cheer for one side or the other, as many seem prone to do, we should be sending a strong message that they need to stop acting like whiny children and get back to doing something productive.

So, what... do you have weapons? If not, you ain't sendin' nothin'. Failing that, the only way this system is going to change is if/when these big companies get tired of suing each other, or somebody comes up with enough money to pay the government more than these companies do.

You can see already that they're getting tired of the patent trolls pissing in their pool, so they're going to get rid of them.

Failing that, the only way this system is going to change is if/when these big companies get tired of suing each other, or somebody comes up with enough money to pay the government more than these companies do.

Why is your first reaction to get upset at the litigator rather than the thief?

Those two companies aren't the victims; we are. Rather than cheer for one side or the other, as many seem prone to do, we should be sending a strong message that they need to stop acting like whiny children and get back to doing something productive.

Agreed. They should be making great products and not copying other's designs so that these legal matters don't have to proceed.

Agreed. They should be making great products and not copying other's designs so that these legal matters don't have to proceed.

You miss the point. It is impossible, today, to build a product without reproducing someone else's design somewhere*. Even if it was, it would be incredibly counter-productive, due to the huge amount of work duplication involved. Strong innovation can only exist when people are building their stuff on top of each other's work.

It seems to me that you like Apple's stuff, so answer me : should Apple have kept their ridiculous modal notification system in iOS 5, instead of copying Android's superior non-obtrusive notification system ?

And, for the mandatory car analogy : if a car manufacturer patented round wheels, should all other cars do with polygonal ones to avoid IP infringement ?

The problem is that Apple's current designs tend to be a case that hugs the internal components. And it interacts with the human hand. There is very little that can be changed in the design unless: (a) they artificially bulk up their devices, (b) places elements that the user interacts with in awkward to manage locations, and (c) uses colours/designs that do not fit with current (fashion) trends. All of this would place companies like Samsung at a disadvantage simply because it involves things that consumers don't want. (Note: I'm not saying that they want Apple clones, I'm just saying that the minimalist mentality has pretty much made it impossible for anyone to make a competing product without cloning the product.)

We aren't talking about something like a G3 or G4 iMac, where there is plenty of room to design something similar that doesn't, well, look similar.